Month: June 2023

Categories
Slovakia Memoir

My Memoir is Published

It was thirty years ago this month that I first stepped foot on Slovak soil. The Slovak Republic was just six months old. I was part of a group of 25 on a mission trip from Calvary Baptist Church in Holland, Michigan. Little did I know then that that trip would be the beginning of relationships that have spanned 30 years.

A year later I was on my second trip to Slovakia. This time with Joe Ann and the Calvary High School choir plus Pastor Grooms and a few more chaperones. The young people sang 20 times in 10 days, played basketball against Slovak high school teams, met with high school English classes, and had weekend concerts in churches and a city auditorium.

Then, in 1997, Joe Ann and I sold everything in the U.S. and moved to Slovakia at the invitation of the Baptist church in Banska Bystrica. Lord willing, I will again be in Banska Bystrica next week. Traveling with me will be one of those high school students from 1994.

This and the story that spanned the next twelve years is covered in the memoir that I completed this spring and has now been published. It is available on Amazon. Although the bulk of the book is my memory of our years in Slovakia, there is a backstory that tells how Joe Ann and I met and what happened in the ten years before we went to Slovakia. It concludes with an epilogue of the years after we returned to the U.S. until Joe Ann’s death last year.

I chose the three words, Courage to Change, in the title because it is part of the Serenity Prayer. The burden of our hearts from the beginning was to share the experience, strength, and hope that comes with recovery from addiction. However, for everyone who experienced God-enabled change during our years in Slovakia, including the two of us, it took courage to change those things in our lives that needed changing.

This fall the book will be translated into the Slovak language for those with whom we shared our lives who cannot read it in English.

Categories
Relationships

Role Models and Resources

A meaningful book

In her book, Bridges out of Poverty, Ruby defines poverty as “the extent to which we do without resources.” Although her book is about helping people in the society we call poor because of lack of financial resources, she identifies eight resources that are part of the bridge out of poverty: emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationships/role models, knowledge of hidden rules, and coping strategies. After defining each of these resources, Payne gives description of a number of clients, their backgrounds. and current situations. She then asks the reader to evaluate each of the clients on the extent to which they lack the eight resources.

At the time I was introduced to the book I found it useful because I was the administrator of a university department that included social work students. However, over the years I have returned to that list of resources many times and examined myself on the extent to which I lacked roesources when making a career change or made a physical move.

When I left university teaching and administration in 1985 to take a position of volunteer recruitment in the medical services department of an international mission agency, I knew that to do the job well I would need help in acquiring some of the resources Payne identified.

A Significant Person

In addition to making a career change and moving to another part of the country, I knew no one when I arrived. What I found in that agency was one of the most colorful, resourceful persons I had ever met. Johnni Johnson Scofield was a special assistant to the president of the agency and was 20 years my senior.

Johnni introduced herself, took me to lunch, invited me to her church, and helped me get acquainted with Richmond, Virginia. She saw what I needed to learn my new work culture and helped me acquire the informational, the experiential, and the relational resources I needed. She taught me the hidden rules of the organization, gave me coping strategies, was a part of my support group, and was a role model of how to be a resource provider for others.

The featured image on this post is a water color painting I have framed and hung on the wall in my office. It was painted by Johnni when she was in her seventies. I think of it as a kind of self-portrait. Johnni’s studio apartment was like living in a library.

Whenever I think of resourceful people, Johnni is the first person who comes to mind. She shaped my thinking and influenced my actions about the importance of resources and mentors more than anyone else.

I never met with Johnni that she didn’t have something to share with me, most often some print resources. They were resources to make me think, or help me do my job better, or understand the big picture, or expand my knowledge on some subject. There were news items or things related to my special interests.

When I was no longer in Richmond, Johnni mailed packets of materials to Michigan and then overseas. Always learning herself, she scoured all kinds of magazines and books.

A worthy goal

Before Joe Ann Shelton and I moved to Slovakia we prepared a pamphlet in which we described our vision and outlined several goals we had in ministry. One of the goals was to introduce three kinds of resources to those with and to whom we ministered. They were the same that Johnni had provided for me: experiential resources, people resources, and informational resources.

Setting that goal and accomplishing it did at least two things for us. First, it helped us frame our picture of people in terms of what might enrich them, give them joy, enhance their lives, and provide them with greater ability to do their work and relate to others. Second, it was a way of doing our part and ensuring that we could leave something behind when we were gone that would be ongoing in the lives of others.

It was reciprocal. People we met, worked and worshipped with in the years from 1997 to 2009, observed our needs and helped us in many of the ways Johnni had assisted me.

When I returned to Slovakia for a visit in July of this year after 13 years away, I was reminded again of the beauty and blessing of all the “one another” commands in the Bible – love one another, pray for one another, forgive one another, carry each other’s burdens, encourage one another, build each other up, offer hospitality to one another, and so many more.

Categories
Relationships Slovakia Memoir

God’s Timing

Time slipping away

Greatest lesson learned in Slovakia

When Joe Ann and I returned to the U.S. in 2009, after 12 years in Slovakia, we were asked by our pastor one Sunday morning, “What was the greatest lesson you learned in your years in Slovakia?” We both had an answer without having to think about it. I said, “God’s timing.” Joe Ann said, “Waiting on God.” They were two different ways of saying the same thing.

In some cases God answered prayers that we prayed for people and for certain things to develop after we were there for several years. Other prayers He answered after we left Slovakia and even some since Joe Ann’s death. We were often in a hurry but God was never in a hurry. We were thinking about what we wanted to accomplish and He was knowing what He would accomplish. God has his own timetable and purpose in what He does. At times our task was to till the soil. At other times to plant seeds, water, or pull weeds. It was not often to harvest.

God is always at work in His way and, as I get ready to return to Slovakia soon, I am eager to see what He has been doing there in these intervening 13 years.

In addition to learning what has changed in people’s lives there, I know I will have opportunity to give a testimony of God’s work in my own life when attending churches, meeting with groups, and sharing time with families and individuals one-on-one. Since those times will be comparatively short because I may see some people just once and will only be in Slovakia for four weeks, I want what I share with people to be meaningful. Consequently, I have been giving it some thought. Of course, I will say different things to different people, but today I want to tell you about one of the most important lessons I learned in returning to the United States.

Greatest lesson learned in returning to the U.S.

Here it is. It was easier to be focused on and committed to God’s purpose in my life when I was in Slovakia than it was in returning to the U.S. Why do I say that? Because we were in a foreign country and we went there for a reason. Every morning as I sat at the kitchen table in our apartment in Banska Bystrica and looked out of the window to the apartment buildings across from us, I thought (and sometimes said aloud to Joe Ann), “If we are not sharing God’s Word and His love in what we say and how we live, then we have no business being here.” That kept me focused and single-minded.

When I came back to the U.S. it was hard to keep that focus on a daily basis. After all, I was in my own country and I thought “I have every right to be here. I was born here. This is my country.” So, I was often distracted and drawn away by a variety of interests and activities that caused me to miss opportunities and forget about the priority of communicating God’s Word and being like Jesus in what I said and did.

However, not long after we returned to the U.S. and settled in Amarillo, Texas, we found new avenues of minstry and recaptured some of our focus and sense of purpose. The years there were good for both Joe Ann and me in many ways.

Then, in 2012 we returned to Michigan and settled again in Holland. Joe Ann was 80 years old and I was 70. With increasing age and decreasing energy, we both had to assess again what kind of life we would live. Joe Ann began to see individuals in our home and work with them. We served together on the Global Outreach Committee at Calvary Baptist Church. I was involved for a few years in our Christian school administration and in some teaching. My last assignment from the Lord was to be Joe Ann’s caregiver for a couple of years.

Now, at 81, I remind myself again that my life is not my own and I have no right to “do my own thing” just because I am getting older. Without a doubt, life is different and ministry is different but what isn’t differnt is the obligation and joy to give Jesus priority in my day to day life and accept what God has next for me. I am beginning to get a glimpse of it.